


Read Me Like A Book

by slashyrogue



Category: Adam (2009), Charlie Countryman (2013), Hannibal Extended Universe - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Bookstore Owner Adam, Fluff, M/M, Original Character(s), Rock Star Nigel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 03:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10935597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashyrogue/pseuds/slashyrogue
Summary: Rockstar Nigel is running after being recognized and hides in a children's bookstore where meets its owner Adam Raki.





	1. Chapter 1

He ran into the first place he came to without thought, catching his breath when he made it inside. Nigel closed his eyes as he tried to calm down, the roar of the screaming still fresh in his ears even now in the quiet. 

“Are you ok?”

He opened his eyes and looked at who looked at a worried face and eyes filled with concern, the man in front of him was wringing his hands and was no probably the owner judging by the lack of anyone else running to greet him.

A bookstore. 

He was in a bookstore. A kids bookstore it looked to be, bright colors all around and an elaborately painted mural of the solar system splashed onto the wall to his left.

“Fine, just fine,” he straightened himself up and smiled, “This your store gorgeous?”

A nod and a blush for his words.

“Yes, I don’t get many customers this late at night but,” he smiled and Nigel felt his insides flutter, “Now you’re here.”

He blinked, “You have no idea who I am do you?”

The gorgeous creature in front of him frowned, “Should I?”

Nigel laughed, long and loud. It had been way too fucking long since he’d gone unrecognized anywhere.

This was perfect.

Far too late he realized that his laughing was being taken the wrong way, the angel in blue jeans who’d inadvertently saved him now looked red faced and angry.

“Shit, I’m sorry I didn’t mean…”

Arms crossed and a mumbled, “I don’t like when people laugh at me. It’s rude.”

That’s when Nigel noticed the name tag.

“Adam,” he breathed, hands up as he made his way to a star design couch not too far inside the store, “Mind if I sit?”

Adam was still frowning, his lips pursed as he seemed to be fighting against a well honed instinct. “No, I don’t like you. I think you should leave.”

Nigel sighed, “Darling, I apologize it’s been way too fucking long since I went anywhere that someone didn’t know me. My name is Nigel Ibanescu, I head up a band called Dragoste.”

Adam seemed to smile a bit, a teasing of a raised lip as he asked, “You sing?”

Nigel smiled, “Like a fucking canary.”

“What types of songs? I don’t listen to music much, but I like slow jazz songs,”

Nigel shook his head, “I sing hard stuff, darling, nothing you’d want to hear,” he picked up a kids book that sat on the couch beside him, “The Little Star?”

Adam started to pick up some of the book piles that Nigel now noticed around him, stacking them back on small shelves and his cheeks were pink as he said, “I like stars, sometimes it’s nice to just watch, relax, and just not think for a while.”

Nigel’s finger came across the cover, a bright blue with a bunch of stars around it one a bit smaller than the rest. “I get that, more than you know.”

He watched Adam clean up the rest of the piles around him, his eyes wandering between Adam and the clock as time went by. “You usually stay open till ten, darling? Little kiddies come out that late?”

Adam shook his head, smiling slightly, “I didn’t want to make you leave, if you didn’t want to. I,” he frowned, “Why are you here anyway?”

Nigel leaned back on the couch, sighing as he smiled, “Got recognized, I don’t do bodyguards Adam. I don’t see a fucking reason to have some asshole babysit me when I can take care of myself, you know?”

Adam walked over to the couch and sat down, picking up the Little Star book before asking, “Someone chased you? When they saw you?”

Nigel nodded, “All the way through the alley and I ran into the first door I could hoping for a safe place to hide,” he grinned, “And I found you.”

Adam had his hands in front of him, seeming nervous as he kept moving them in his lap and his offered, “You can stay as late as you would like, I…you’re not bothering me.”

Nigel grinned, “You so sure that’s a good idea, gorgeous? I’m not known for being very trustworthy,” he reached out and put his hand on Adam’s on the couch, “I can be a huge fucking bother when I want to be.”

Adam licked his lips before he swallowed, “I don’t mind.”

“Thank you, Star,” he ran his fingers over Adam’s knuckle before he let go and stood, stretching, “but I better go before I turn into a fucking pumpkin yeah?”

Adam frowned, “I guess so.”

He watched Nigel straighten himself up, cracking his neck and looking around the store before smiling back at Adam. “Thanks for the save,” he said before pulling out his phone and heading out the door.

Adam sighed, walking up to the door and locking it behind him, turning over the Closed sign and heading up towards his apartment upstairs turning off the light as he went.

He pulled out his computer and immediately looked up Nigel, clicking on the first bit of music that came up and not at all surprised to find he enjoyed the sound of his voice falling asleep with the sounds of him singing.

The next morning he woke at ten to open the store, heading down the stairs and flipping on the lights before heading to unlock the door. He saw a note had been pushed beneath it, lifting it up to see his name written in messy scrawl.

Inside it simply said:

I won’t be able to look at the stars again without thinking that somewhere you’re looking at them too.

Adam smiled, heading for the register.

Today would be a good day.


	2. Chapter 2

“Playing games, darling, and I can’t imagine what I could do to…”

Nigel pushed open the door and paused, listening as a voice cut through the singing.

“Sir, we’re….”

He locked eyes with a woman behind the counter, a short blonde who he knew hadn’t been here the last time. “You work here, darling?”

Her nametag read Jill, and he saw her eyes widen recognizing him almost immediately.

“I…yeah, um, you…are you sure you’re in the right place?”

Nigel turned his head and listened, “….do you know what I want? I want…”

He smiled, “Yes, I’m in the exact right place. Adam in the back room?”

Jill blushed, nodding, “He…you know Adam?”

“Intimately,” he teased, winking at her once before he headed toward the doors that read EMPLOYEES ONLY, the room not very large at all and he found Adam easily, pausing to watch.

Adam was dancing.

His Star was wearing rather large headphones as he swiveled his hips and sang loudly to a Dragoste song, a song Nigel wrote, which was apparently was not as hard for him to like as Nigel had thought.

He leaned back against the door, his grin widening as he followed Adam’s hips as they moved.

“…run, run, run, darling I’m gonna…”

Adam turned, seeing him and nearly falling in his surprise.

He pulled off his headphones and said, “You aren’t allowed back here, it’s for employees only.”

Nigel grinned, “Jill said I could.”

Adam frowned, “Jill is my employee and doesn’t make the rules,” his blush was deepening the longer Nigel stood there, “And I don’t like to be surprised. Or spied on.”

Nigel frowned, stepping closer with his hands out in surrender. “I apologize, Star, I…” he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a wrapped package holding out his hand.

Adam frowned, not moving.

“What is it?”

“I wanted to show my appreciation, for saving my ass the other night, I know it’s been a few weeks but the tour is fucking hell and we’ve finally taken a break for a few days so,” he held it up higher, stepping just a bit closer, “For you. I saw it in Madrid and thought you’d like it.”

Adam took the brown package, pulling off the paper and his eyes widened as he held up the glass star in the light. “I like it a lot,” he looked at Nigel with a smile, “Thank you.”

Nigel smiled, smiling, “You were singing my song,” he gestured to the headphones on Adam’s neck, “Quite well too, Star, and I liked the dancing.”

Adam blushed, looking down as he frowned. “I liked the words,” he mumbled, turning to put the star on the table, “I like a lot of your songs, they aren’t hard stuff like you said. There is the one about the bar fight, but you were sad about the woman who…”

Nigel walked closer and leaned, staring up into Adam’s eyes from the side. “You listened to all of them?”

Adam picked up the glass star and turned away again, “I liked the words, like I said.”

Nigel laughed, “That you did, darling, that you did. You wouldn’t want to hear them live, would you? We’re playing next week in the city, and I can…”

Adam’s head shot up as he shook his head, “It’s so many people, I don’t like people and I don’t like things too loud but I…no thank you.”

Nigel’s hand came to touch Adam but held back, nodding as he tried not to feel slighted by the refused invite. “Of course, Adam,” he ran a hand over the back of his neck, “I guess I’ll be going then.”

He turned to leave and Adam said, “I would like to hear them, though, from you if,” Adam paused and Nigel turned, “You wanted to sing them to me without people.”

Nigel smiled, “I do much better with music and backup, darling, fuck if I can sing acoustic and you wouldn’t…”

“I doubt that, you have a very nice speaking voice and I’ve heard you sing on youtube videos so I know you’re lying.”

Nigel laughed, leaning back against the employee door. “You know how to cut right to it, don’t you Adam?”

Adam frowned, “If you don’t want to, it’s fine, but I don’t like liars.”

Nigel nodded, “I’ll remember that, Star, I promise you I will.”

He walked closer to Adam again, stopping just short of touching, “We have a concert about an hour from here a few days from now but,” he reached into his pocket and got out his phone, “You wanna give me your cell phone number so we can plan this private show?”

Adam quickly spouted off his number and Nigel put it into his phone, a text coming seconds later with a smiley face that he stared it for far too long.

“Feel free to call me anytime, Star, I promise to answer.”

Nigel watched a blush appear on Adam’s cheeks again, loving the reaction and wanting to reach out to touch but his phone rang surprising them both.

“Fuck,” he sighed, seeing the familiar number that he knew would be hard to ignore a second time, “I have to go, Adam,” he grabbed Adam’s hand and kissed it quickly, “If you don’t call or text me, darling, I will be disappointed.”

Adam looked at his phone, “Okay, I…I’ll try.”

“We can look at the stars together sometime,” Nigel said before he walked through the door, Adam leaning back to stare at the door for almost too long.

He waited a few minutes before Jill ran into the room, her eyes wide as she screeched, “NIGEL!?”

Adam started to speak when his phone buzzed again, lifting it and smiling at the message.

**If I’m going to sing for you darling, I expect you to sing along. Promise?**

Adam blushed and typed:

**My voice wouldn’t fit well with yours.**

“Adam! C’mon don’t ignore me! I…”

He sighed, “Please leave, I don’t want to talk about this with you and I have books to inventory.”

Jill glared, “I thought we were friends.”

Adam felt his phone buzz again and sighed, “You work here, and I don’t need any more friends.”

She stalked off and he waited until the door closed to read.

**We’ll see won’t we?**

He looked at the glass star on the counter and felt a warmth in his chest thinking of Nigel immediately.

**I guess so. I hope you’re not driving and texting, it’s illegal and very dangerous.**

Adam could almost hear Nigel’s laughter when he read:

**At a stop light, Star. I promise.**

He typed:

**Good.**

**I can be a very good boy when I want to be.**

Adam put the phone down on the table and started to inventory again, putting his headphones back on to restart the song over.

It was his favorite after all.


End file.
